DRS Rebbeim Reunited with Their Talmidim

for Health and Beauty to witness some of the surgical innovations to enhance patients’ appearance and beauty, and the Hospital for Tropical Medicine to learn about the ethical challenges in treating Dengue fever and malaria.

Naomi May, a senior at LCW, said she was fascinated by a lecture they heard at the King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital about cord blood, which is the blood left over in the placenta that contains hematopoietic stem cells.

“These stem cells are so important, as they can be used to treat many serious diseases, even cancer,” said May, who hopes to be a nurse in a delivery and labor unit.

Students also had the opportunity to hear from Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health about the ethical challenges in developing universal health care and about the difficulties in establishing clinics in rural areas of Thailand.

allows students abroad to “gain practical experience and enhance their understanding of the world through cultural and social immersion.” The Institute provided the group with a Thai representative, Marisa Chung Vinitketkumnuan, a former Buddhist monk, who joined the students on field trips and taught them about Thai culture.

Students stayed at hotels next to the five-story Chabad-Lubavitch of Bangkok Center, which provided meals for their two Shabbatot in Thailand and where they davened, joined by more than 500 Israeli tourists. Dr. Loike lectured the students each night on Chabad’s sky roof lounge overlooking the Bangkok landscape, and they also heard meaningful shiurim about halachic challenges of living in Thailand from the Director of the Chabad House, Rabbi and Rebbetzin Wilhelm.

Every year, a group of esteemed rabbeim from DRS including Rabbi Kaminetsky, Rabbi Storch, and Director of Israel Guidance Rabbi Avi Weber, visit our alumni studying in nearly 20 different yeshivas in Israel. The purpose of this visit is to reconnect with the alumni and continue to strengthen the Rebbe-Talmud relationship that DRS is known for.

The annual visit provides a unique opportunity for the rabbeim to connect with former talmidim, to hear about their experiences in yeshiva, and offer guidance and support as they continue their journey of growth and learning. The rabbeim take great pride in visiting each and every student, documenting their experiences, and using that information to better serve future students in their decision-making process.

DRS has a long-standing tradition of encouraging its students to spend a year learning in Israel after high school, and this visit serves as a testament to the success of this program. With 96% of alumni choosing to study in Eretz Yisroel, it is evident that the experience is both transformative and enriching for our graduates.

“My thoughts before the trip were that patient autonomy was the most important tenet of medical ethics, and any decision made AMA [Against Medical Advice] must be due to their personal beliefs,” said Shira Davis, a psychology major who is a senior at Touro’s Lander College for Women. “Now I understand the pervasiveness of misinformation and lack of medical care that can lead to patients making such decisions.”

Collaboration Across Cultures

Dr. Loike founded BioCEP to enable students to discuss, assess, and reflect on the ethical questions they encountered in Thailand. The program was facilitated in conjunction with the Knowledge Exchange Institute, an organization that

Although the educational aspect of the program is its primary purpose, they still managed to squeeze a little fun into their time abroad. The highlights included the beautiful underground aquarium that housed a saltwater lake containing sharks and sting rays and an elephant reserve where they bathed elephants by hand. They also visited a Red Cross snake farm, where the head veterinarian showed them how king cobras are milked to develop anti-venom serum.

Before coming home, they met with 30 undergraduate students at Mahidol University to learn about innovative online science education, and to build cultural bridges with some of their Thai counterparts.